The present invention relates to devices for supporting a camera such as a video camera or a CCD (charge coupled device) camera and, more particularly, to a kinematically reconfigurable camera supporting device which mounts or rests on different objects of various shapes under gravity without clamping to the object.
Video cameras for computers have become increasingly common. For a CRT monitor having a sufficiently wide, generally planar surface on the top, a camera may be placed on the top surface using a flat support, a tripod structure, or the like. For a laptop computer, the display screen is relatively thin so that conventional structures typically do not provide stable support of the camera on the laptop screen or a flat panel screen and do not allow adequate adjustments to be made to position the camera easily and quickly. Some mounting devices are designed to support the camera on a CRT monitor and a flat panel LCD screen in different modes of operation. There remains a need for a camera mount that is easy to use and sufficiently versatile to stably support a camera on various surfaces including a flat surface and edge surfaces of flat screens or the like having a range of different thicknesses.